could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

[the_invisible]

Maybe not sucidial, but this has been bothering me for two nights, making me lose sleep. The incompetent bodyshop I dealt with told me that he used 1000grit on my car, and that has been the root of my sleepless nights.

Could the following picture be of 1000grit wetsanding marks? It only shows up under certain lighting condition and at certain angle. I literally took 40 pictures of the spot and only this one shows the sanding marks very slightly. I even had to adjust the contrast and offset to exaggerate the sanding marks for them to show.



While I am waiting for some brand new yellow cutting pads and my 7424XP, I cannot wait to get working with the M105. In the mean time, I toyed with the idea of driving 100miles to get some 3000grit wet sanding paper to remove those marks. That's a little overkill considering that I still haven't given some yellow pads a try. Could this potentially be 1000 grit? From my experience, it looks like 2000 or 2500, or even scratches created by a wool pad. But what if the j-off at the bodyshop was not lying, and that those are indeed 1000 grit marks? Will fixing it with M105 + cutting pad ultimately lead to clarity distortion caused by those marks? Is finishing it off with 2500 or 3000 grit my only option in this case???

I am a perfectionist that gets paranoid over small details. This is especially the case when I am helpless without my power tool (and the overly aggressive pad to compensate for obsessive compulsiveness). It's 3:15am and I literally ran back and forth between the bed and the garage 30 times in the past few hours to look at those scratches, each time convincing myself that they are not 1000 grit marks. Seems like the devil's advocate is telling me otherwise. . I am extremely bothered. Beyond words.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

It's impossible to say what grit caused it because they buffed on it after sanding. It could be the very end of a 1,000 grit after it was partially buffed out, or a relatively fresh 2,000~ grit.

Regardless, you might be able to get it out with a few passes of M105. I would start with that before taking sandpaper to the paint. Try it by hand with a foam applicator and put some passion behind your pad.

[Nick Chapman]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

M105 by hand, a little elbow grease and you will be satisfied

[Mike Pennington]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

M105 by hand, a little elbow grease and you will be satisfied

[the_invisible]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

Thanks guys. After sleeping on it, the fact that all these scratches and marks are curved makes me think they are caused by a wool pad (or other rotary pad of some sort). Also, as you can see, the marks so very small relatively to the penny. I haven't used M105 by hand yet, but I tried two passes of UC and the above picture is the result.


In the picture below, you will see some 2500 wetsanding marks. On the edge you will see some pretty deep isolated scratches. Mine are much lighter than the isolated sanding marks. So I guess in theory M105 by hand should work. But I am too tired to work on it now... lol

[the_invisible]

Update: Good News and Bad News!!!

Update:
So I followed the advice above and applied some M105 by hand to all the effected areas. I have a good news and bad news.



Good news:
After just one pass with medium pressure, ALL the sanding marks are gone. From 12 inches away, I see no defect whatsoever. The surface is very smooth and shiny. There is some very slight marring caused by the M105, but that can be removed with either SwirlX or M205.

Here's the bad news:
When using a magnifying glass, up close under certain lighting condition, I think I see some light distortion in the paint in one particular spot caused by wetsanding. You really have to get up close with a magnifying glass to see it. I cannot confirm if this was just the factory orange peel or if it was the sanding marks caused previously.

Here is what the unevenness look like to the naked eye:

(Macro image up close with 2.8 aperture, cropped to emphasize the effected area)

I tried capturing the unevenness on a magnify glass, but the unevenness doesn't show up. It just shows a flat surface.

So here's my thought. I have two options

Option 1: Drive 100 miles to get some 3000 grit sandpaper as soon as I get up next morning and start wetsanding the entire hood. This way, I can eliminate all doubt by eliminating all orange peel, whether they exist or not.

Option 2: Wait for my PCXP and yellow pad to arrive next monday, and then give 'er a go with some M105 and see if it reduces it.

Option 3: Ignore it, and just use the orange pad along with M105. Never look at it again with a magnifying glass.

[Nick Chapman]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

Put your magnifying glass back in your drawer, and get some sleep already
Seriously, how often is anyone going to be looking at your car with their magnifying glass? Who has a magnifying glass anymore?

Step #1, make a Dr appointment. Explain to him that you're having trouble sleeping.

Step #2, go straight from the Dr office to the pharmacy, and get your Ambien prescription filled.

Step #3, take a shower to chill a bit

Step #4, pop an Ambien, and enjoy your night

This is all a joke, please don't take me serious. But with a daily driver car, I think you're being a bit too anal. You are going to get defects throuout the life of your car. If you do too much now, it will limit the amount of defect removal you can do in the future to that area. You will never have a daily driver vehicle perfect all of the time. You may get it absolutely perfect today, but tomorrow you may get a door ding, scratch or maybe even a dent. If you can stand a foot away and not see anything, I say walk away from it. You've done an awesome job so far, if you keep going there is a possibility that you can make things worse rather than better. You have to remember, you're dealing with paint that is less than the thickness of a dollar bill.

Just my $0.02

Nick

[the_invisible]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

lol... thanks.

Speaking of dents, I think I discovered a very very small one a couple days ago. I am not sure if it was there before, but it just rear its ugly head when I bent over to pick up something in my garage!!! I was so depressed. But after some thought it may have been there for a long time, as the dent seems to have been polished out before.

Today I couldn't see much of the sanding/orange peel distortion anymore. Just got to fix up the marring caused by M105 and it should be good. I guess I will still give the entire car a couple of passes with either UC or M105 and an orange pad. I feel like the car had been violated after it was wetsanded and improperly polished by the bodyshop!!!

[cardriver]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

I think you've achieved good level of correction, but with this extreme attention to detail that you have, I don't see how it is possible that you could drive this car on a daily basis, considering the inevitable, countless little things like this that happen to a car on a weekly basis.

Point is, you've done a lot and you shouldn't let it worry you. Detailing should be a hobby (or business for some) that relieves your stress; not something that deprives you of your sleep .

[the_invisible]

Re: Suicidal thoughts... and could this be 1000 grit sanding mark?

Well said.

I am just really shocked to see that one of the more reputable bodyshops around here would do such a hack job on my car. I guess it's because they wetsanded my car to repair the damages the bodyshop's partner had done. They did not get paid to wetsand my car, so they decided just to do a half-butt job instead, leaving sanding marks and haze all over the place. The shop, however, did wash my car without inflicting any swirls, so I was pleased with that. Other than the car wash, the sanding job they did was terrible. Luckily I managed to remove all of the sanding marks by hand with M105 and Ultimate Compound. I will give the entire car a final cut using M105 and some orange cutting pads.